UK Business News

National Express to raise £360m in rights issue

Debt-laden transport group vows to fight any Government attempt to wrest control of its remaining rail franchises

Pound backtracks after Fitch deficit warning

Sterling fell back from a three-month high after a credit-rating agency said the UK was most at risk of a downgrade

• Lessons to learn from revitalised economies

• Memo to Cameron: no more promises

Updates from HSBC and Barclays give hope

Britain’s biggest banks have reported solid improvements in underlying profits as the growth of bad debt has slowed

• Some good news on the bad debt situation

• HSBC 'significantly ahead' as US bad debts slow

Supermarkets prepare for Christmas price war

Analysts say that falling food price inflation will give supermarkets a ‘war chest’ to allow them to cut back their prices

World Business News

Former Bear Stearns fund managers acquitted

Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin cleared in first major criminal trial stemming from the sub-prime mortgage crisis

Macy's shrinks losses to $31m on cost controls

The American department store group reduces third quarter losses and increases annual earning forecasts

• US unemployment highest for 26 years

• Best Buy set to turn British retailing blue

Senate proposes to limit Fed's power

Launching the new Bill, Senator Chris Dodd accused the Fed of having been an "abysmal failure" as a bank regulator

Brussels to investigate Reuters datafeed tool

Competition regulators launch an investigation into Thomson Reuters over concerns that it locks customers into its services

Analysis

Some good news on bad debt situation

It seems Lloyds' Eric Daniels may have been right: there are glimmers of hope for high street banks amid the devastation - David Wighton

• Cost benefit for Vodafone

• Game over in pension case

Evolutionary clock is ticking for dinosaur model

While we were doing our jobs, we saw our business model thrown on the scrapheap for something smaller and cheaper -Carl Mortished

Tempus: IHG's future looks bright

Compared with vaguely positive comments from rivals, however, the hotel group's trading update looked rather downbeat

Law  

Baby RB to be allowed to die as father concedes

Father withdraws his opposition to doctors plea for severely disabled one-year-old boy to be taken off life support

Ofsted hid crucial evidence on Baby P sacking

Documents that Sharon Shoesmith was told 'did not exist' emerged only after Freedom of Information request lodged

Police to handle minor charges, says CPS

The Crown Prosecution Service is turning the clock back under proposals for police to handle offences to be tried by magistrates

Money  

What the banking shake-up will mean for you

Millions will get new banks as a result of the state bailout. We look at how to make the best of the changes

• How to beat the banking giants

• Halifax rate row: do you stay or do you go?

How to get a mortgage that is six times your salary

Borrowers may be surprised to learn that lenders remain flexible for certain customers

Investors take sides on the boom vs gloom debate

Fund managers Anthony Bolton of Fidelity and Neil Woodford of Invesco Perpetual tell Kathryn Cooper where markets are heading

• Make a profit from global growth

• Funds to put your finances on the right track

business travel  

Business travellers of the world unite! Well Britain anyway...

Travel agency body launches survey as it seeks to influence political parties in the run-up to the General Election

The world's oddest airport lounges

Lounges for dogs and children sound bizarre but not as odd as Finnair's new facility

SkyTeam, Alitalia open new terminal facilities

Alliance gets common check-in at Heathrow while Italian carrier gets a dedicated terminal in Rome